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Feris resigns as Wayland athletic director

Greg Feris says he’s been watching other people’s grandchildren play sports for a lot of years. Now he wants to make more time to see his own.

Wayland Baptist on Monday announced that Feris is resigning as athletic director after serving 24 years in that position.

“It’s been something that we’ve been looking at for the last several months,” Feris said. “I’m 67 years old. There’s one of the reasons. The last 24 here at Wayland have been really great years, and we’ll treasure those for a long time.”

Feris said he and his wife Glenda have grandchildren in Fort Worth and Houston and want to make more time to see them.

Wayland said his stepping down is a resignation, and Feris left open the door to possibly work again at some point.

“We’re retiring from Wayland,” he said. “I feel like I’ve got a lot of good years ahead of me. We have our health. For the foreseeable future, we’re planning to stay in Plainview. If there was something that came along that we thought we’d enjoy doing ... . We have some plans, but I’d certainly like to think I’ll have the opportunity to move to something else in time.”

When Feris took the job in 1990, Wayland sponsored men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country and track and field. During his tenure, the athletic department has grown to have 21 sports teams.

Wayland added wrestling teams four years ago, football three years ago and swimming in the past year. He also oversaw adding baseball, volleyball, soccer, golf and competitive cheer and dance teams.

According to the university, athletes make up about one-third of the school’s enrollment.

“There’s no one person you can lift up and say they’re responsible for that,” Feris said. “We’ve had a tremendously supportive administration and faculty and staff that have allowed us to have that growth and still try to be competitive. That’s something that a whole lot of people can take credit for.”

Feris said the expansion of the number of teams might be the achievement in which he’s most pleased.

“There are a lot of folks that graduate from high school and are looking for a place to play, looking for a place to hang their hat for some period of time, looking to compete in whatever their sport might be,” he said. “By our having multiple offerings, we’ve been able to give a wide variety of folks an opportunity to keep playing the game, whatever that game might be.”

Feris’ contract runs through June. He said he’ll stay on through that time, and a little beyond if necessary to ease the transition for his successor.